Chapter 3
THREE
OLIVIA
When I opened my eyes the next morning, it all came rushing back.
Leaving my fiancé at the altar, driving hours away in a rental car and winding up in this small town, watching the Christmas tree lighting in this park, and meeting a handsome stranger, who turned my day around while I was there.
I still had his jacket on.
The scent of Taj lingered on the jacket and wrapped around me like a warm, soothing blanket. It brought me a sense of comfort I hadn’t realized I so desperately needed.
And now, I needed a plan. Where was I going to go? What was I going to do?
A small part of me wanted to stay in this bed forever.
To never have to face the reality of the choices I’d made.
But the other part of me realized that to do so would mean that I’d made my most recent decision foolishly.
The whole point of leaving was to get back some semblance of a life I could feel good about and be proud of. To find a life that made me happy.
Perhaps it was time to face the music.
Ignoring the voice in my head that was screaming at me to leave it alone, I reached for my purse, dug through it, and fished out my phone. I inhaled deeply, giving myself one last chance to ignore everything, before I finally turned on the phone.
Not long after I left yesterday, the calls came in. I never accepted any of them, and I turned off the phone after a while. In such a heightened emotional state, those calls had the power to pull me back, and I needed to do what I’d done no matter how difficult it was for anyone else.
My phone lit up, and for a few seconds, I just stared at it, wondering. Then it happened.
The notifications came in, flooding the display.
There were texts and voicemails to sort through.
Far more than I had the patience to deal with this morning, especially given that I could easily guess which individuals they were from.
Despite my desire to ignore them, I suspected it’d be wise to have a sense of what I was dealing with, so I figured I’d listen to a handful of voicemail messages.
At least I’d be able to hear everyone’s tone that way.
I took another deep breath before tapping on the screen to listen to my voicemail.
Unsurprisingly, the first call that came through was from Raven, my Maid of Honor.
I suspected she’d be the first to call, considering she was the one who would’ve gotten the note I left explaining as much as I was willing to explain yesterday—that I couldn’t go through with it, that I was leaving, and that I’d reach out in a few days.
“Olivia, I just got back and saw your note. What’s going on? Where are you? Call me.”
Her voice was panicked. She barely took a breath the entire time she was speaking.
A small part of me felt bad for dumping this on Raven the way I had.
It had only been the two of us in the bridal suite when someone had shown up at the door needing something.
I couldn’t recall now who it was or what they wanted, because it didn’t really matter much.
But Raven took off to deal with whatever it was, leaving me alone.
I took that as a sign. My opportunity. As quickly as I could, I scribbled out a note, gathered my most critical items, and scampered out of there. How I did it unseen was still a mystery, but I accepted the blessing for what it was.
The voicemail rolled into the next one.
“Liv, it’s me again. Everyone is freaking out. What happened? Where are you going? Please call me.”
The desperation in her voice was enough to have me feeling guilty.
Raven was the closest thing I had to a friend.
It wasn’t that we’d grown up playing together outside or going to school with one another.
We’d both been in the same business, working together for years.
Beyond that, we didn’t have much in common.
We were so different when it came to what we wanted out of life.
She was content with hers just as it was, even chiding me whenever I was compelled enough to do something slightly off the rails.
If it hadn’t been for our work, and we’d met each other outside of that industry, Raven and I never would’ve been friends.
It wasn’t that she was a bad person. I was simply more of a dreamer, and she was a perfectionist.
The third voicemail played.
“Olivia Thomas, what on earth is this nonsense? Where are you? You need to come back here so we can figure this out. I spoke with Conrad, and he’s just devastated. He wants to work it out. We can fix this. But you need to call and come back here—”
I ended the call there and tossed my phone to the opposite side of the bed like I’d contract some disease from holding it for too long.
Sighing, I rolled my eyes at my mom’s message. It was precisely what I expected I’d hear from her. She was always worried about the wrong thing. Not about me or my feelings. Not about what I really wanted in life.
No.
No, she was worried about the contracts and lifestyle and the next gig.
Regardless of what she said, she wasn’t worried about Conrad either. Not beyond what he represented. The money. The future. Her status.
I closed my eyes and sighed, allowing my thoughts to drift back to a much happier moment. That Christmas tree lighting last night. That stranger who offered up his warm jacket and a cup of hot chocolate.
It was foolish to think about him, about how refreshing it had been not to feel any pressure to be anyone but myself. I’d never see him again, but I didn’t think I’d ever forget how Taj made me feel last night.
I pulled his jacket just a little tighter around my body, inhaling the scent of him.
I’d barely gotten through replaying the first part of my encounter with him when a knock came at my door, forcing my eyes to shoot open.
My body went rigid, panic gripping my chest.
Had someone pulled out all the stops to find me here? I wouldn’t have put it past them to take such drastic measures.
No matter how much I wanted to pretend it didn’t matter who was at the door, I was too curious not to at least have a look.
To my utter surprise—and relief—it was just a member of the hotel staff. I opened the door to greet the gentleman. “Hello.”
“Good morning, Miss Thomas. I do apologize for bothering you so early this morning, but this was delivered here for you about fifteen minutes ago.”
I blinked, disbelief washing over me as the man held out a huge, wrapped present with a sealed envelope affixed to the top of it.
No way anyone could’ve sent a wedding gift here. Nobody knew this was where I was going to be or that I wouldn’t have gotten married.
Noticing the concerned look on the hotel employee’s face, I took the gift from him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. If there’s anything else we can do to make your stay more enjoyable, please just call the front desk.”
“I will.”
As he turned to leave, I stepped back into the room and closed the door behind me. My belly trembled as my feet carried me back toward the bed. I set the gift down on top of it and pulled the envelope off.
I’d merely figure out who this was from. That’s it. I wouldn’t even need to open the gift.
Inside the envelope, I found a piece of paper that had been folded in half. Flipping it open, I took one look at the initial on the bottom before butterflies swarmed my belly.
O-
Inside you’ll find two gifts. The small one on top is so you can always have one with you, wherever you go.
The items on the bottom might be better for you to get around in today.
There’s no pressure, but if you ever need to talk or just want someone to give you a tour of the town, my number is below.
-T
I dropped the note onto the bed and ripped open the package like a kid on Christmas morning. Beneath the paper, I found a decorative holiday box with a matching lid. Pulling off the lid, I revealed a smaller white box on top of a pile of tissue paper.
My hands snatched it up, surprised by the weight of such a small package. After flipping open the lid, I pushed the tissue paper out of the way and saw what Taj had gotten me.
Tears filled my eyes as I pulled the snow globe that I’d held in my hands last night out of the box. I flipped it upside down and right side up again, watching as the snow fell over the couple standing before that tree. My heart squeezed at the sight of it.
Taj had gotten me this gift so I could always have a tree with me, no matter where I was. Nobody had ever done something so sweet for me.
Lowering myself onto the bed, I sat there, simply staring and appreciating such a thoughtful gift. One that told me Taj listened to me when I spoke. Like my thoughts and opinions mattered. A smile played at my lips as visions of him danced in my mind.
It was only through some miracle that I remembered his note mentioning there were two gifts inside. Carefully, like it were the most precious thing I’d ever received, I set the snow globe down on the bedside table.
Shifting the tissue paper out of the way, I revealed the second gift. Technically, it was more than one item, and it made me smile. Another note was left on top.
The thought of you freezing was too much to bear, so I guessed your size.
Beneath that note was a pile of warm clothing. A pair of ski pants, leggings, two shirts, two sweatshirts, several pairs of socks, sneakers, a jacket, gloves, a hat, sports bras, and underwear. That man had put together a box of clothing for me, right down to the undergarments.
How had I gotten so lucky to meet him?
I never knew such a man existed in real life.
The thought of me freezing was too much for him to bear. My heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest.
With a huge smile on my face, I finally took off Taj’s jacket. But it was only so I could strip out of my wedding gown and make a beeline for the shower. The wedding gown required some effort to remove, but I eventually succeeded.
Then I took my time in the shower, washing away all the horrible parts of yesterday while smiling about the one good thing I had experienced. Following a shower that was longer than necessary, I dried my hair and pulled on the clothes Taj had sent me. Everything fit perfectly.
When I woke this morning, I had been feeling so upset about not ever seeing Taj again, about never being able to feel the way he’d made me feel last night.
But as quickly as I could snap my fingers, he’d done it again. He’d made it possible to forget about the voicemails I’d already listened to, the ones I hadn’t, and the texts that likely all said the same thing.
Staring at myself in the full-length mirror while wearing clothes a handsome stranger had sent to me, I nervously chewed on my bottom lip.
If I hadn’t run out of my wedding yesterday, I’d have woken up a married woman today.
To even consider calling Taj would have been foolish, wouldn’t it?
But as someone who truly appreciated what he’d done for me, I thought I should at least reach out to thank him.
A simple, friendly text.
That’s what I could do.
But my heart wanted more. The whole reason I wound up here in this town was because I needed some adventure. Some freedom.
Not love.
Not another suffocating relationship.
Just… something new. Something real.
Something that came as a result of me being me. Not who everyone else wanted me to be.
I picked up the note Taj had written to me, studying the slanting lines of his handwriting in the most meaningful words.
So you can always have one with you, wherever you go.
My eyes darted to the tree in the snow globe, at the couple standing before it. What would it be like to be able to dream again? To have nobody but myself to answer to?
I reached for the second note.
The thought of you freezing was too much to bear.
What would I give to have someone care so much for me? To worry about Olivia, the woman. Not Olivia, the supermodel.
Taj had sent me a new jacket, but I ignored it and reached for the one he’d draped over my shoulders last night.
I held it up to my nose and inhaled.
That scent. Citrus, mint, and spice hit me first, followed by the warmth of woods and vanilla. It was a mix of fresh and woody.
I inhaled again.
Everything about what happened from the moment Taj approached me at that tree was about me and the concern he had for me. This morning’s gift proved he hadn’t stopped making me a priority.
I’d never had that.
Not genuinely, anyway.
Listen to my gut. That’s what Taj had suggested I do when I told him it always left me feeling happy.
So, that’s what I did.
I reached for my phone, ignored the unread and unanswered text messages waiting for me, and opened a new chat.
Then, I typed Taj’s number and shot off a text. Only time would tell if I’d made a mistake.